a glimpse on rural villages in Bangladesh
July 18, 2011.
First day of internship in Dhaka, Bangladesh was quite a challenge. The 15 mins walk from the hotel to Grameen Bank HQ presents the picture of the misery of Bangladeshi street children. One of them happened to follow me and my friends and even hang on my feet till I couldn’t make a step, all is for money! Yet, in fact it wasn’t all about the children of Bangladesh. Short trip to rural villages provides another insight on how the children with their warm smiles and curiosity towards foreigners bring you into five mins of fame.
“Hi.. Hi.. My name is?”
a Bengali kid (taken from inside the car before we left the village)
Maybe you find it weird with the above subheading. Why would a sentence of “My name is” followed by a question mark? Yet, this is how the children of the rural start their conversation with us, foreigners. I personally found it very astonishing. Have been living in Japan for quite some time, the all impression I have towards children is they are cute yet very shy! Nonetheless, the kids in villages happen to be very different. First time I and other interns stepped out from the Grameen Bank branch office to have our very first observation on the village, one or two children started to stare at us. Each time we made another step more children came and followed as we walked along. In the beginning, they seemed to be a lil bit hesitant and shy yet in the end their curiosity outstripped and they couldn’t resist to begin a simple conversation with us. And yes, they
a Bengali lil girl taking care of her lil brother
started by saying “hi.. hi… my name is?” trying to comprehend their limitation in English, we recognized it simply meant “What’s your name?”. Looking into this very first encounter with children of the villages, I think they are just amazing! Despite their very young age (avg 5-10 yo) and the limited English vocabularies they have, the children are just fearless and confident to speak up!
The five minutes of fame!
Being a tourist for visiting a country for the first time, it is a common habit to have camera ready for taking pictures anywhere anytime. The same thing happened when I saw these children surrounding us with their half shy half excited expression. I and my mates couldn’t help but to take our cam out n grabbed pics of them! This was the moment that we always refer to “five mins of fame”! One picture taken, another frame pictured, and the moments continued for quite a while. The crowd among the kids started to emerge followed with a shout, “hey.. hey.. hi… hi…” simply meaning they want their face to be pictured with a camera! Yes, they do love camera I guess. Yet, the point I am trying to make here is not the feeling of being an actress followed by fans and asked to take thousand pics. It is their reception that touched the heart of us. We are strangers to them yet look at how well they care about us. This is how children of the rural express their respects to us and this is how Bangladeshi children make their steps into another world they have lived in, a world with new people from different countries, us.
the crowd! literally 5 mins of fame 
A girl in a red dress
manu (Brazilian) and salma (the lil girl), one of the very touching moments we had
There was this lil girl with long hair who always dressed in a red half pajama dress for days. The only English words she could speak are only names, fine, and thank you. Yet, still it wasn’t a hinder for us to form sisterhood! This 8 or 9 yo girl is very lovely I would say. She goes to school in the afternoon and she always comes to the GB branch to play with us. Without any hesitation, she climbed to the second floor and entered our room. Despite this existence of language barrier between us, she still struggled to teach some Bangla words and we even had fun by dancing together! There was one time during lunch break when I and my roommates were feeling so exhausted and really wanted to take a rest yet she and her friend insisted to stay with us by saying “its ok, I will sleep with you sari and my friend will share the
me with salma and her friend
bed with you manu!” This moment touched us and opened our eyes on how they felt this connected with us, no one yet strangers to them. Lessons to learn? Kids are lovely, your patient to give them a voice and let them have a word on you will open the doors for them to know more about world. And, yes, no matter what, regardless where you come from or what languages you speak, the birth of friendships and sisterhoods could happen with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
a0z0ra
July 24, 2011
woww… Virgy, thanks for sharing your experience in Bangladesh! So touched… The children are amazing, we simply just can’t not love them~!
Looking forward to your next stories
Btw, genki? kmu skrg dmana ngapain? Hontou ni ohisashiburi da ne~
Virgi Agita (@virgiagita)
July 24, 2011
hi there,
welcome.. I appreciate ur comment! I have more stories to share so pls stay updated!
Yes, personally, children are the source of courage and inspirations for me.. they are our hopes for the future..
alhamdulillah baik.. skrg lg nunggu graduation to come later in Sept.. btw ini siapa yaaa?
Marlin
July 25, 2011
heheh Virgi, namaku ga muncul ya di komennya~
ini Marlin
we both have passion for underprivileged children in Indonesia. hopefully someday we can do something meaningful for them! faitoo~!
Mir Arman Faruk
July 24, 2011
another great blog virgi. Very touching. Children are the future. And no matter what they should always have an opportunity for the life. I hope inshallah I will be able to work for them to create that opportunity.
Ohh! It is not just the kids. ALL BANGLADESHIS love camera
Your writing skill is great. Keep them coming.
Virgi Agita (@virgiagita)
July 24, 2011
hi armannnn!
thanks again for the comment.. hehe, u r so right that all bangladeshi love camera regardless ppl from urban or rural areas, so interesting to know this! ;D
And yes, I have that passion too! to do something for the children, as I may told u, my current concern is the street children in jkt.. hope cud apply what Ive learned there in Bangladesh here.. sometime soon..
thanks for the compliment n im looking forward for ur feedbacks! keep in touch!
Guinandra Jatikusumo
August 17, 2011
Impressive! I like how you documented your internship there. The last time I visited your blog, I read excerpts of your life in Japan. Apparently it’s been years. Good luck for everything!